38 | www.PetfoodIndustry.com
INGREDIENT ISSUES
Greg Aldrich, PhD
Beyond grain free: ancient grains
of wheat in dog and cat diets
which grains fit into it and what attributes
might they afford a modern pet food manufacturer?
What are ancient grains?
The incorporation of ancient grains could expand taste, nutritional enhancement and
marketing opportunities as consumers continue to explore new options for themselves
and their pets. Maksim Pasko, Fotolia.com
In April 2017 in "Ingredient Issues," the
topic was a broad-brush overview of carbohydrate sources that we could consider for
the next generation of pet food products
when we finally exhaust the options that are
"grain-free." While the typical commodity
grains have been the staple to pet food for
decades and the legume seeds and tubers
have been the popular marketing catchphrase, the next group might be the "ancient
grains." The connotation of this group is
that these are "heirloom" or "heritage"
grains. But what constitutes this group,
The term "ancient grains" is not specifically defined by any regulatory agency
or trade group. Rather, it is generally
understood by producers, academics and
merchants to represent a group of seeds that
are little changed over time. For whatever
reason, they were overlooked during the
green revolution for lacking traits that could
be exploited for increased production, being
difficult to breed or lacking consistent traits
that were considered beneficial at the time.
Today they represent a treasure trove of
genetic diversity - an archive of sorts that
plant breeders can access as they confront
changes in climate, growing conditions,
pests, weeds and people's tastes.
They are, in essence, the same now as
they were 5,000 or 10,000 years ago. Being
overlooked for so long may mean they have
something new to offer our current health,
nutrition and sensory needs. Some of these
have been covered in this column already
including millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and rye. Another group that may be
worth exploring is in the Triticae tribe - the
ancient wheats. There are several that are
still produced today that are finding new
Dr. Aldrich is president of Pet Food & Ingredient Technology Inc. He is also the author of Petfood Industry magazine's monthly
column, "Ingredient Insights."
June 2017
Industry

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page.
If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.